Like Fire
by goctyudicbdkvhb175749674
Summary: Ba Sing Se was hot. That was the only thing on his mind as Sokka wandered from their little apartment in the Upper Ring all the way to the monorail station. A tea shop. A chance meeting. Two destinies, now intertwined and changed forever. He loved him, he realized. Slight AU - begins during the Ba Sing Se arc, goes all the way into season three, Sokka X Zuko
1. A Tea with Chipped Ice, Please

To say that Sokka was sick of Ba Sing Se would be a gross understatement.

It was hot.

Sokka sat in their little Upper Ring apartment, whacking his boomerang against the tile floor just for the hell of it. It was summer. It was sweltering. Sokka paused the whacking motion just long enough to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The coldest thing in the entire building was the wall he was leaning against.

"Oh, would you stop that?" Katara turned, eyebrows twitching in annoyance. As she turned to face Sokka her long, sweaty hair whipped around like a soaked mat. Her dress was wet. It was wet just from the sweat alone.

Sokka would have normally bitten back. A clever retort, a witty comeback, something, anything. It was too hot though. Sokka was too tired to argue. He set the boomerang down.

Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? What was everyone else even doing? It was too hot for Sokka to care. He heard Toph and Katara argue. It was just background noise against the overwhelming heat. Heat like fog, heat like rock, heat like heat.

Sokka tried in vain to loosen the collar of his shirt. One more tug. He just needed a little extra breathing room. Tug, tug, tug. Sokka felt a button pop.

That was when he decided that he needed to go out.

Sokka stood, left. No one noticed, not really. Aang had been asleep the last time Sokka remembered. The Upper Ring felt suffocating, almost as much so as the heat.

Train station.

Against all the other hot, sweaty people, against the sweltering background of sun, against sunburns and straw hats and overcrowding, the inside of the train car wasn't much better, arguably worse. Sokka fanned himself with a piece of paper he didn't know he had.

He normally would have watched the earth-benders as they glided the train down the track, like a dragon. The train's caboose felt like a pit inside the belly of a fire-breathing dragon. Sokka normally would have watched the dragon of the train in utter fascination. He was the dragon now, though. On fire. He felt like dragon's fire.

They'd been trying for the Earth King's attention for weeks. Nothing. The Upper Ring faded into the Lower. Houses upon houses violently crashing together, on top of each other, row after row after row of bricks and tiles and people. The nice apartments and shopping districts and banks had been consumed by the densely-populated blocks, the lattice-like alleyways, the unquestionably crowded markets.

He didn't know what compelled him to even go to the Lower Ring. Maybe it was Joo Dee's unnerving smile constantly breathing down his neck, maybe it was to distract himself from the loss of Appa, maybe he was just bored. He could go, right? He was bored and he wanted to go. That was good enough. He didn't need another, better reason.

A jolt, and the cars had stopped. In a haze Sokka stepped off, walked on the platform, walked out the station, walked through crowded streets and puzzling alleyways. He almost wanted to get lost. An afternoon, he needed only that. That was the plan for today.

Walk around. Spend a day to himself. Tea. Sokka wanted tea.

Sokka bought himself lunch. They were little balls of fried dough with a toothpick for a spoon. Heavy, greasy, not great for a hot day, but some comfort food after the train-wreck which had been the past several weeks was exactly what he needed. The fried food settled in his stomach, laying dormant until it'd make his intestines do somersaults about four hours later.

Tea, too, Sokka remembered. He stabbed the little dough ball, plopped each of them one after the other as he ambled in search for tea to wash it all down. Tea with chipped ice. That sounded good right now. A turn there, a right here. There, right there. Sokka sat at a tea shop now.

At the front, was it arguing? No, it wasn't arguing. Just some groaning. Sokka looked up, but just as he was about to look back down he paused. Double take; do a double take.

Sokka froze.

Sokka lifted his hand. It felt like seal's blubber. Every hair, every eyelash, all ten of his fingers, it was as if someone had attached string to them. It was as if someone had attached string to them and was jerking it all around, everything from an individual hair all the way up to entire limbs. Sokka felt so out of control then.

Slow motion. Every seemed to be moving in slow motion.

The girls in mud-green dresses who'd come in, the waiter taking an old man's order, someone at another table pouring tea. It was all happening in slow motion. Sokka's brain was a cloud; floating, floating, floating aimlessly. Sky high now. Sokka's skull wanted to explode, then implode on itself.

A crick in Sokka's neck. He'd never had a crick in his neck so bad before. He gave his neck's vertebra a good crack, almost as if that little pop would send him back to reality.

Sokka was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. Things were like a haze now. Vision blurry, mind in a flurry; hands teeming, head screaming.

He no longer felt hot.

He was cold now, ice-cold.

As cold as home.

Snow replaced his blood as it rippled through his veins, vibrating his arteries as his eyes grew wide.

Sokka turned his head back and forth, back and forth. He was imagining things, right? There were plenty of people in the world with facial scars, right?

Scar on his left eye. Golden eyes; they were amber. Black hair. He'd grown his hair out? It wasn't in that dumb-looking ponytail anymore? Focus, dum-dum!

Sokka felt himself grow pale, almost as pale as the person at the counter. The person standing at the counter had his eyebrows scrunched, lips in a signature frown.

Sokka turned his head away one more time, then turned it back one more time.

When Sokka looked back he saw Zuko.

His legs didn't even let his brain think about it. Sokka shot out of his seat. He rushed out, hands shaking, fingers already beginning to wrap around the boomerang inside his bag. Run. Sokka was about to run, about to book it out of there.

"Is something wrong? Why'd you rush out like that?"

The voice.

The tone.

The grumpiness.

Definitely Zuko.

Run, run, run! Forget this ever happened! He just needed to run and ignore the problem and then everything and everyone would turn out okay.

Sokka didn't run. He turned around. Both he and Zuko stopped dead in their tracks.

"Sokka."

.

"Zuko."

.

Hollow silence. That was it.

The wind carried that day a silence so hollow, so profound, so dead, that the way it rattled Sokka's ears would be something he'd never forget.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka wasn't sure who'd asked that, wasn't sure if it was he or Zuko who was more confused. More shocked. More mortified.

Something about this felt like a trap.

Sokka didn't know what it was about tension that made men crack. But crack he did. Crack both of them went, like a pair of eggs in the blistering heat. Sokka felt hot again. The heat returned. Zuko was a fire-bender. Zuko felt hot, burning.

"I work here now." Sokka heard no hint of lies in Zuko's voice. He wished Toph was here to tell him to, tell him to not. Without the others Sokka felt like a sitting duck. A non-bender. Mediocre fighting skills. A boomerang to defend himself.

Even without Zuko's fire-bending he had two swords, right? That was the icing on top of Sokka's panic cake. Yes, a panic cake. Sokka felt the panic creep in, like a pie being slammed into his face. Both were surprises, though both unpleasant but one far outclassing the other.

Yes, indeed, Sokka would take having a pie slammed into his face by surprise - would have taken it a million times - if that meant he never had to see Zuko and his scary-scarred face and his dumb ponytail ever again.

"What do you want?" Sokka tried to sound scary, tried to sound like Aang and Katara and Toph and Appa and Momo were right behind him, ready to tackle Zuko to the ground any minute now. He tried to sound like he actually felt safe.

.

"I don't want anything from you."

.

Sokka just had to. He just had to be funny. "What do you mean _I _have nothing to offer you?" Sokka sounded offended. Or at least tried to. He tried to sound like he was cracking a joke, that it was just like the good old times when they weren't worrying about the Earth King or the solar eclipse or Appa, that Zuko was just chasing them around the world and running himself dry because of it. The good old days, when they weren't in this mess and web of politics and lies, when Sokka felt more at ease with cracking one-liners and puns, when Sokka could laugh at Zuko's constant scowl.

A part of Sokka wondered what would happen if he had just stayed home, at the South Pole.

Sokka shook those thoughts away. No time to feel homesick now, not after all they'd done. Not after everything that'd happened.

Zuko had nothing to say to Sokka's witty reply. Typical.

"Just go," Zuko told him.

That sounded like a challenge. Sokka knew he was being stupid, knew that something like this could get him hurt or worse. He just had to, though.

It was so stupid, but Sokka marched right on back to the tea shop, to Zuko's apparent surprise. Sokka nervously told Iroh his order, then took the iced tea from Zuko's tray with shaking hands.

Spirits was he being idiotic right now.

Gulp, glub, glub, down the hatch went the tea. Sokka downed it in a good three gulps. Cold on his tongue; it was a relief as much as it was an unpleasant surprise. The cold drink chattered his teeth, made them feel like they'd frozen over and were about to shatter. The tea pooled in his stomach. A chill ran through Sokka's gut.

Up and gone now. The little bell at the top of the door clattered on his way out. Back on the train he went, his journey back an absolute blur. Shades of green and black, smears of color dotting the very edges of his vision; when Sokka arrived back at the Upper Ring he was absolutely out of it.

It was so hot. Sokka was sick of Ba Sing Se. He was sick of the heat. He was sick of all these conflicting feelings.


	2. The Tales of Ba Sing Se

Sokka didn't tell anyone about his encounter with Zuko. He didn't know why; telling just didn't feel right, didn't seem right. There was something deep in his belly that told Sokka not to say anything about the unexpected meeting. Something told him that Zuko wasn't a threat, not now. Sokka just kept thinking about it.

He was starting to miss Appa. They all were. Sokka felt just tired, in all honesty. A giant drill had tried to break into the city walls. Still no news from the Earth King. They couldn't find Appa. Oh, Spirits, Sokka found that he drove himself mad! He sat outside, sharpening his boomerang on a rock. His rock. He'd claimed this rock as a boomerang-sharpener, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

Katara and Toph had gone out to the spa, gone out to do girl's stuff. For all Sokka knew Toph was probably blowing mud bubbles as some poor attendant tried to give her a facial. Aang had skittered off, too. He seemed to be less depressed about Appa, but Sokka still felt a tinge of concern. He remembered what Aang had been like at the Serpent's Pass, all apathetic and emotionless, and it scared Sokka, scared him more than any time Aang had ever become enraged and entered the Avatar state.

Sokka was trying not to think. Every thought about Zuko he tried to push from his mind, tried to force it away, dismiss it. Zuko hadn't attacked them yet. No Fire Nation airships were in the sky, hovering above the city in a dance of doom. Admiral Zhao; he was gone. Azula still gave Sokka nightmares, but they hadn't seen her since the whole drill-into-the-Lower-Ring fiasco. Sokka just wanted a breath, really. His life had changed. It'd changed so much just in the past year.

The Southern Water Tribe.

He began to feel homesick. He began missing his father, his Gran-Gran, the cold, the snow, the igloos. Seal jerky. What was a man to do in order to get some seal jerky around these parts? Sokka was tired of being land-locked all the time!

Before he knew it Sokka had wandered off to the train, again. Oh, Spirits, he was being stupid again. As he approached the lower ring, the maze of alleyways and streets to him became as clear as a creeping crystal. He'd only gone there once before, but he remembered it. Somehow finding his way back to that tea shop was no struggle at all. It was automatic.

His hands opened that wooden door, that little bell rang, and out Sokka stepped onto the long, green carpet that had been embroidered with two golden dragons. Intimidation swept over him like a wind. Sokka could have sworn that he got the chills.

And Zuko still worked there.

Sokka sat down at a two-seated square table, and Zuko came.

Zuko looked angry - that wasn't anything new. But what was it? Was he scared? Did Zuko look scared?

Zuko turned away, avoided Sokka's table, but the manager working there nudged Zuko over to Sokka's seat. Sokka felt bad all of a sudden. Sokka had come here on his own, free will. Zuko didn't have a choice in this encounter. His manager was the one who had forced him to shuffle over to Sokka, awkward as a turtle-duck, and Sokka had created such a circumstance in the first place by making the stupid, stupid, dumb, dumb decision to come back.

"What do you want?" Zuko asked. He sounded cold. He didn't make eye-contact.

"Tea. Green, I guess? You have jasmine tea, too, right?" The words were just leaving Sokka's mouth, and they had little rhyme, rhythm, or reason.

"No, what. Do. You. Want?" Zuko asked. Sokka dared to look at Zuko's face. It was all scrunched up, his scar pulsating as Zuko's expression rapidly flitted between confusion, surprise, and anger. Zuko's jaw seemed to drop. He started to scowl. The lines on his face drew dark and shadowed, and Sokka could feel the air grow thick, grow hot, grow suffocating like grease.

Why, oh why, did Sokka decide to come here? There were plenty of other good places in Ba Sing Se to wander aimlessly off to! Nothing good was to come out of being here, with Zuko. Yet, he still came. He was here. Zuko was here. Sokka couldn't believe it. Such a small world they lived in! It was such a small world, and Zuko was such a piece of work. And to think, before, Sokka wasn't sure if he was ever going to see Zuko again, not after Azula had filled Iroh with lightning.

Azula again. Sokka shook his head, not sure if he'd done that physically as well as mentally.

"I don't know. I don't know what I want," Sokka admitted.

Silence.

"You said you wanted green tea? And jasmine tea?"

"I'll take it."

"You sure? It's a lot. It's two full pots."

"Yeah, I'll take both. How much will that be?"

"It's on the house."

"Why?"

"Because. Just because."

Zuko came back, but at this point he looked more like an annoyed teenager than a frightened, exiled prince. Zuko took the two teas which rested on his tray, and he slammed them on the table as loud as he could without getting yelled at by his manager. Zuko stood and he stared, squinted and glared.

"Would you stop staring at me like that?!" Sokka took his jasmine tea, poured from the pot to the cup, and began drinking. The weight of Zuko's stare felt more like the weight of the world.

"Well, would you stop coming? We're not exactly on good terms right now," Zuko shot back.

"I mean, it could be worse."

"How?"

"We're on worse terms with Azula."

"Everyone's on worse terms with Azula!"

"Even her friends?"

Silence.

"Especially her friends. Mai and Ty Lee, they're probably more scared of her than anyone else."

"And why's that?"

"Because being that close to Azula is like standing at the eye of a hurricane."

"And how do you know that?"

"I'm her brother; I know."

Zuko darted off as quickly as he came, leaving Sokka all by his lonesome to contend with his two teas. Zuko was right, two pots was too much. By the time Sokka had finished three quarters of his jasmine tea, he hadn't even touched the green one, and the liquid was already starting to settle uncomfortably in his belly.

Zuko had come back, probably just to mock him, but Sokka wondered if it was something else, too. "I told you, it's too much tea."

"Okay, okay, you're right." Sokka then chuckled, teasingly. "You look so angry right now. What're you going to do? Chuck a fire ball at me?"

Zuko lunged forward, his hands now barely hovering above Sokka's mouth. They were close, too close, and what Zuko said next sounded less like speech and more like a hiss. "Be quiet! What if someone overhears you?!"

"Overhears what?"

Zuko leaned in close, his lips ghosting barely above Sokka's ear. "I can't have anyone here knowing I'm a fire-bender."

Oh, right. Sokka remembered now. The Earth Kingdom wasn't exactly the most hospitable place for a fire-bender at the moment.

An invisible force pushed the two of them apart again, and Sokka felt that it should have been his cue to leave. He, however, didn't, because he was once again being dumb.

"I have a lot of extra tea." Sokka had given up on the second pot. He didn't want a stomach ache.

"Yeah, and it's your fault for ordering so much of it."

"Where's your uncle? According to him, there's no such thing as too much tea."

"He's away, shopping right now."

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know why?"

"It's Lu Ten's birthday."

"Who?"

"My uncle's son."

"I didn't know that Iroh has a son?"

"Had."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's no longer here."

"Oh."

"He died, in the war."

"Oh." That was all Sokka could really say to that. "Sit down with me?"

"Why?"

"Because I asked; take it or leave it. You don't have to, but if you want to."

"Why would I want to?"

"I don't know."

Zuko sat down then. Sokka poured him a lukewarm cup of green tea, and Zuko drank it slowly, awkwardly, thoughtfully. "The tea tastes better when Uncle's here, I swear."

"Who makes it when Iroh's gone?"

"Me."

"You just called your own tea not as good."

"Because it's not as good."

"I think it's pretty good." Sokka took another sip for emphasis, even as the tea sloshed around uncomfortably around his throat and down to his stomach. He felt that he probably shouldn't have dinner tonight; his stomach was too full.

"Thanks."

They sat like that, face to face, for a while. A real long while. The flow of customers had slowed to a trickle for the day, yet Sokka did not leave. He remained, with Zuko barely arm's-length away from him, and both were practically having a staring competition.

As the day wore on, it grew quiet. The manager clocked out, leaving Zuko to close up shop. Quieter and quieter went the room as the customers who'd arrived before Sokka slowly left, one by one.

Sokka waited. He waited for a cue to leave, an excuse to go. None came. He didn't know why Zuko remained, either.

At this point Zuko had finished off probably half of the pot before giving up on it.

"Does it ever feel lonely here?" Sokka asked.

"Sometimes. A little. I don't have any friends here."

"Do you have friends anywhere?"

"No." Zuko answered that a tad too aggressively, and a little too quickly. "I have Uncle, though. That has to count as something, someone."

"Your Uncle, he's a swell dude; I like him a lot, yeah." Sokka sputtered, fluttered. The words in his throat struggled to form, and once they did they faltered at the delivery. "Yup, yup, great dude, seems to be doing better since Azula struck him with lightning and everything."

Zuko tensed, and Sokka stopped. Neither of them said anything for a solid minute.

"It was scary." Zuko turned away. "It's scary having someone you love hurt like that. I think, I think he's all I have. Uncle's all I have now."

Zuko's lips pressed themselves firmly together. He trembled, slightly. His fingers began to shake, before he balled them up to stop it. The sight made Sokka's teeth chatter and his spine clatter. Having Iroh hurt scared Zuko, and seeing Zuko like this scared Sokka. Zuko seemed so human, and that was when Sokka was reminded that Zuko was - is - human.

Everyone's human. Sokka, his friends, his family, even Zuko. Maybe Azula - Sokka was still up in the air about that.

It felt automatic. Sokka lifted his hand and placed it atop Zuko's trembling fist. He rubbed his thumb gently against Zuko's knuckle, but Zuko quickly - too quickly - pulled away. Sokka's heart was fast; it was dizzying; he felt dizzy. Zuko's skin, it was so human. It was so warm. It pulsed, and it was soft, and that day Sokka was reminded that Zuko was flesh and bone, just like the rest of them.

The hand which Sokka used to touch Zuko's felt hot. Sokka felt hot.

Sokka took it now, as his cue to leave. He stood up, pushed in his chair, and left Zuko in his own awkward stupor.

That night Sokka somehow managed to wander off to some random haiku poetry slam. He decided to join in just to get his mind off of things.

That night Zuko, with annoyingly neat hair which Iroh had styled himself, went on a date with a girl, Jin. It was awkward, and something subconsciously clicked in Zuko's mind, something that told him he didn't like girls in that way.


End file.
